Christmas past:
Grandma Ruth and her ten children posing on the steps of the school basement.
Any guesses on which four were teachers?
Christmas this past Sunday:
Seven of the ten (including the “outlaws”) celebrating the holidays with their families.
Cousins – 55 possible . . .
Family
Food
Sharing memories
Sharing stories
Creating new memories
Connecting family members
Building bridges across the generations
Christmas with the “Baby Ruth” Family to begin the holidays!
Here’s one view of the “crowd”!
Do you have specific traditions?
How do they continue through the years?
Tuesday is the day to share a “Slice of Life” with Two Writing Teachers. Thank you, Anna, Betsy, Beth, Dana, Deb, Kathleen, Stacey, and Tara. Check out the writers, readers and teachers here.
Resource - Full 
Family traditions are the best!! Thank you for sharing some of your traditions! Merry Christmas!
Michelle,
We start off with a big one!!! Merry Christmas to you as well!
Traditions just seem to go with holidays. Sharing them with family makes them more special and meaningful. Thank you for sharing yours. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Merry Christmas to you all as well. I am thankful that we have so many family members to “share” the holidays with! ❤
Love the photo — how great! Traditions are what hold us together — I love seeing how my children have begun to take over some of our traditions. Merry Christmas!
Clare
I never thought to ask on Sunday, but I know that we have over 60 years of dinners together. I love that adding generations brings new traditions as well. For us, it is one day to know that you can see a whole bunch of relatives and catch up pretty quickly!
Wow, it’s wonderful that you can all get together. We had one re-union a few years ago, but the extended family is so spread out it might not happen again. I’m glad you shared and hope you have another Merry Christmas this week!
The aunts and uncles are all in Iowa within about 50 miles of each other. More of the cousins are out of state like one of my brothers as well as a sister, so we have our own immediate family Christmas that same weekend and everyone can be home for their own Christmas celebration. Different families host so this year another cousin was back from VA. Always fun!
Merry Christmas to you as well!
You are blessed to have such a large family that values time together. Merry Christmas to you Fran and your ever-growing family!
Yes, we are truly blessed and so appreciate our family and those core values that Grandma always made so visible!
Merry Christmas to your family as well! ❤
I love the pictures so much! Such lovely traditions. One of our favorite traditions was a big family stocking where my Grandma would put in a special small gift for everyone. She was really our gift but she wanted to give us all an extra gift each year! Opening the stocking gift was the first taste of present opening each Christmas Eve. My Grandma did all her stocking gift shopping earlier and wrapped them all. She passed away yesterday and it’s going to be so hard opening the gift she lovingly wrapped. It will surely become a precious reminder of all that she has given us for years. Wishing you a lovely Christmas with your new grandchild!
Kathleen,
You will always have the memories and the gifts from your grandma. We so appreciate the time together to tell our stories and re-live those important events. Deaths at holidays are tough. Your post was such a great tribute to her!!!
That’s for the glimpse into your family tradition!! In VA we will make stuffed cabbage like my mother-in-law always made and this year enjoy a gathering of just Brian, the girls and my mom. With phone calls / texts to larger extended family. So glad YOU were able to gather with your clan!! Merry Christmas, Fran!! So glad we meet here on this blog and in NY at TC!
Definitely a clan, Sally! So good to see so many relatives at least once a year!
Merry Christmas to you and your family! It’s been so great seeing you both online and face to face in NYC!!!
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